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Harold Stassen
Harold Edward Stassen (April 13, 1907 – March 4, 2001) was the 25th Governor of Minnesota from 1939 to 1943 and a later perennial candidate for other offices, most notably and frequently President of the United States. He attepted to run for president in the 1940, 1944, 1948, 1952, 1964, 1968, 1980, 1984, 1988, and 1992 elections. Harold Stassen in The Man With the Iron Heart Harold Stassen, along with Thomas Dewey and Robert Taft, was an early contender for the Republican Party's presidential nomination in 1948.The Man With the Iron Heart, pg. 353. Harold Stassen in Worldwar Harold Stassen was Earl Warren's Vice President, and succeeded Warren when he committed suicide in the wake of the destruction of Indianapolis by the Race in 1965.Aftershocks, pg. 292. Stassen was not privy to Warren's decision to attack the Race's Colonization Fleet in 1962.Ibid., pg. 296. In the aftermath Warren's death, Stassen set about removing those members of the administration who had known about Warren's actions. Stassen was already certain that he wouldn't be elected in 1968, a fact that he privately shared with his Soviet counterpart, Vyacheslav Molotov.Ibid., pg. 305. Stassen soon learned of the new American use of rocket propelled asteroids as a weapon. During a meeting with Sam Yeager, the man who revealed to the world Warren's actions, Yeager attempted to broach the subject with Stassen. Stassen pointedly shared nothing with Yeager.Ibid. pgs. 405-409. Literary Comment Turtledove's use of the then-living Stassen in an unaltered form as a character in a work of fiction is unusual. Typically, Turtledove makes broad references, leaves living people unnamed (see, e.g. G. Gordon Liddy), or somehow changes the name (see e.g. Kurt Haldweim). Stassen died only a month after Aftershocks was first published. Harold Stassen in Joe Steele Governor Harold Stassen received the Republican nomination for the 1948 presidential election just days before the outbreak of the Japanese War. As Stassen was a complete unknown outside of Minnesota, incumbent President Joe Steele had anticipated an easy victory.Joe Steele, pg. 354. However, the new war meant that Steele actually had to campaign. Stassen did somewhat better than expected. He carried Maine, Vermont, Delaware and Maryland (in private, Steele's aid Lazar Kagan was horrified by the loss of Maryland, suggesting Steele's machine had broken down there). Stassen was also able to pick up some of the states that contained resettled wreckers. However, Steele carried the rest of the electoral vote, and won his fifth term.Ibid., pg. 359. Harold Stassen in Southern Victory Minnesota's enthusiastic young governor was the Republican nominee for the presidency in 1944. While he didn't win and carried third in the election, he did manage to take the usual Republican states of Indiana and Kansas as well as Minnesota. More impressively, he took his homestate, as well as incumbent President Charles W. La Follette's homestate of Wisconsin, traditionally Socialist states.In at the Death, pg. 527. Literary Comment Stassen's name is not given in the text, but the description matches the historical figure. See Also *Lyndon Johnson, 36th President of the United States, serving from November, 1963 through January, 1969. Like Stassen in Worldwar, Johnson was an incumbent Vice President who ascended to the Presidency after the unexpected death of the previous incumbent President (Johnson succeeded John F. Kennedy). References Category:Historical Figures Category:Americans Category:1900s Births (OTL) Category:21st-Century Deaths (OTL) Category:Baptists Category:Educators Category:Joe Steele Characters Category:The Man With the Iron Heart Characters Category:Miscellaneous State Governors of the United States (Fictional Work) Category:Miscellaneous State Governors of the United States (OTL) Category:Presidents of the United States (Alternate Timeline) Category:Republicans (Alternate Timeline) Category:Republicans (OTL) Category:Southern Victory Characters Category:Unnamed Historical Figures Category:Unsuccessful Presidential Candidates (Alternate Timeline) Category:Unsuccessful Presidential Candidates (OTL) Category:Vice Presidents of the United States (Alternate Timeline) Category:Worldwar Characters